allthatglitters,
It is a little late now, but for the future. If your Hard Drive have a Virus that has executed its payload, you can do a fresh install of WinXP on top of itself. This will let you keep all the data on the drive and severs the link between the Virus and the OS. You just cannot access any infected files still on the Hard Drive until you run an Antivirus program.
Take Care,
Richard